Windows 10 Enterprise Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) 2018

Lo scorso 1 febbrario 2018 nel post Changes to Office and Windows servicing and support sono state annunciante alcune novità relative a Windows 10 e a Office tra cui le date di “End of support” e di “End of additional servicing for Enterprise, Education” delle ultime quattro versioni di Windows 10:

Una seconda novità riguarda Office 365 ProPlus che non verrà supportato sulle versioni Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) e dal 14 febbraio 2020 non sarà supportato sulle versioni di LTSC di Windows 10, su Windows server 2016 a precedenti e su Windows 8.1 e precedenti:

  • To clarify our current support practices for ProPlus running on Windows 10, ProPlus will not be supported on Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) versions that are no longer being serviced.
  • Effective January 14, 2020, ProPlus will no longer be supported on the following versions of Windows. This will ensure that both Office and Windows receive regular, coordinated updates to provide the most secure environment with the latest capabilities.
    • Any Windows 10 LTSC release
    • Windows Server 2016 and older
    • Windows 8.1 and older

Dal momento che comunque in molti scenari è necessario l’uso di Office tramite Remote Desktop e VDI verrà rilasciata una nuova funzionalità di Remote Desktop e desktop virtualization nella release SAC di Windows 10 Enterprise e Windows Server:

“We recognize that some of our customers deliver Office to their users via Remote Desktop and VDI. Later this year, Microsoft will deliver new Remote Desktop and desktop virtualization capabilities within the SAC release cadence of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows Server.”

A riguardo si veda anche la KB4076504 Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus system requirements (February 1, 2018) in cui oltre alla possibilità di utilizzare Office 365 ProPlus in scenari RDS e VDI si menziona anche il fatto che in tali scenari sarà possibile anche utilizzare funzionalità di Windows 10 come Microsoft Edge, Store for Business e Cortana:

Delivering Office 365 ProPlus remotely via Remote Desktop and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) continues to be a key scenario for our customers. Microsoft is committed to enabling Office 365 Pro Plus in this scenario along with key Windows 10 experiences like Microsoft Edge, Store for Business, and Cortana. Later this year we will deliver these capabilities within the Semi-Annual Channel release cadence of Office, Windows 10, and Windows Server.”

L’uso di Office sulle release LTSC di Windows 10 sarà possibile tramite Office 2019 il cui rilascio è previsto per l’H2 del 2018 e che sarà supportato su Windows 10 SAC, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018 e le future versioni LTSC di Windows Server, le applicazioni client di Office saranno rilasciate solo tramite la tecnologia Click-to-Run e non verrà previsto l’MSI come metodo di deploy, Office 2019 sarà supportato per circa 7 anni (il supporto per Office 2016 cesserà il 14 ottobre 2025):

“We recognize that some customers aren’t ready to move to the cloud and will instead choose to deploy on-premises or hybrid architectures. For those customers, we’re announcing new details on the next perpetual release of Office and LTSC release of Windows 10.”

Office 2019 will ship in H2 of 2018. Previews of the new apps and servers will start shipping in the second quarter of 2018.”

“Office 2019 apps will be supported on:

  • Any supported Windows 10 SAC release
  • Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018
  • The next LTSC release of Windows Server”

The Office 2019 client apps will be released with Click-to-Run installation technology only. We will not provide MSI as a deployment methodology for Office 2019 clients. We will continue to provide MSI for Office Server products.”

Office 2019 will provide 5 years of mainstream support and approximately 2 years of extended support. This is an exception to our Fixed Lifecycle Policy to align with the support period for Office 2016. Extended support will end 10/14/2025.”

Per quanto riguarda la prossima release LTSC di Windows 10 denominata Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018 sarà disponibile nell’autunno 2018 e avrà le stesse features della versione di Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel rilasciata nello stesso periodo fatto salvo per le solite eccezioni (app, Edge e Cortana). Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018 aggiungerà il supporto per le ultime generazioni di processori e sarà sempre supportata per 10 anni (5 anni di supporto mainstream più 5 anni di supporto esteso), per ulteriori informazioni si veda Lifecycle FAQ—Windows products:

The next LTSC release, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018, will be available in the fall of 2018. In keeping with the previous Long-Term Servicing Channel releases, this release will have the same features as the Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel release made available at the same time – with the usual exceptions (including apps that are often updated with additional functionality, including the in-box apps, Microsoft Edge, and Cortana). This new release will also add support for the latest generations of processors, per the standard silicon support policy. This release of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC will be released under our fixed lifecycle policy with a term of 5 years of mainstream support and 5 years of extended support.”

Nella visione di Microsoft Office 2019 e Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018 offriranno ai clienti che non sono ancora pronti per il cloud nuove funzionalità di sicurezza e produttività:

“Servicing extensions for Windows 10 will help customers who need a little extra time to implement Windows as a service; changes to the Office 365 ProPlus system requirements provide clarity for new ProPlus deployments; and Office 2019 and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2018 will give customers who aren’t yet ready to move to the cloud a valuable set of new security and productivity features.”